| Peter and Ann Rowling | Early Childhood | Mrs. Morgan | Middle School | College | Jobs | Marraige |
Peter Rowling was an aircraft factory manager. Ann was a lab technician. Peter lived in a blue-collar world while Ann was into books and intellectual things. They couldn�t be more different. Yet they found things in common. They were married and moved to a small home in Chipping Sodbury. In November, 1965, Ann announced to her family and friends that she was pregnant with her first child. They were both excited soon-to-be parents and often found themselves in the baby room planning where everything would go. Late in July, Peter and Ann were pulling up to Chipping Sodbury General Hospital. On July 31, 1966, Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born into the world. �I think it is rather appropriate for someone who collects funny names to be born in a hospital named Chipping Sodbury,� Joanne comments.
Joanne was a very curious child; Peter and Ann weren�t surprised to learn that her first word was �why.� Joanne describes her early childhood as �dreamy�. She loved to play games using her imagination and would often tell approaching children, �Let�s pretend.� She was read to at an early age. One of her earliest memories is the �house being full of books and of my parents constantly reading to me.� Even during horrible times, reading was calming to Joanne. She says her most vivid memory is her father reading The Wind in the Willows. I�m not surprised to know that Joanne says, �Writing is all I�ve ever wanted to do.� All though she loved it, she kept her ambition a secret.
When Joanne was nine, the family moved again to Tutshill. Her new school was awful. It was oldfashioned, but worst of all was her teacher, Mrs. Morgan, who gave her a test on Joanne�s first day over fractions, which she had never covered before. Needless to say, she failed the test with a 0. Mrs. Morgan�s seating arrangement had the smart kids on the left side and the stupid kids on the right side. �I was as far right as I could get without sitting on the playground,� Joanne says. Joanne became obsessed with proving to Mrs. Morgan that she was smart. She studied hard and by the end of the year, Mrs. Morgan moved her to the left side of the room. But she had to switch places with her best friend. Because of that, she became unpopular. After graduating from grade school, Joanne moved on to Wydean Comprehensive School, the middle school. She was scared of the idea of older children. She was also insecure because of the fact that she wore glasses, �I was quiet, freckly, short-sighted, and rubbish at sports.� She found other girls like her�shy, and became part of their clique. She did well in school, especially English and foreign languages, her favorite subjects. She slowly came out of the shell she was in. She soon felt confident enough to show her friends her stories, and they loved them. She went through school, but not without some memorable events: she broke her arm playing net ball, not a very violent sport. She also attacked the meanest girl in the grade. �I didn�t have a choice. It was hit back or lie down and play dead. For a few day, I was quite famous because she hadn�t managed to flatten me. The truth was, my locker was right behind me and it held me up.� She soon went back into her shell, peeking around corners before stepping out for weeks.
Eighteen-year-old Joanne had piles of boxes filled with short stories, but didn�t know how to get them published. She had wonderful ideas, but was too timid to carry them out. Joanne�s parents wanted her to become a bilingual legal secretary after studying at Exeter University. Joanne felt that straying from writing was a big mistake, though she enrolled at Exeter, anyway. �It was fantastic, but, it did not affer quite the chance to be a radical that I planned.� Joanne masterred French easily and spent a year in Paris to perfect her French. When she returned, she felt confident at making her way through the world.
She eventually graduated, and was soon submitting job applications. She felt silly doing so, since she wanted so much to write, not pursue some other career. The next six years went by, and so did jobs. She couldn�t seem to find a job that she could hang onto. Most of her jobs were ones as a secretary, but that life was too boring for her outgoing soul. �Whatever job I had, I was always writing like crazy. All I ever liked about offices was being able to type up stories on the computer when no one was looking. I was never paying much attention in meetings because I was usually scribbling bits of my latest stories in the margins of the pad or thinking up names for my characters.� Joanne was fired from several jobs, obviously, but mostly, she just quit.
Joanne was devastated at how her life was treating her. She rembered her time in Paris, and remembered how much she loved being in a foreign country. She got a job teaching English as a second language in Portugal. She packed her many bags, most of which contained Harry, and was on her way. Her students immediately loved her and most of all was happy to have a schedule that allowed to write. Joanne says the most enjoyable part of Harry was naming the characters. Joanne often cried when she had to remember her own mother�s death as she was writing about Harry�s life as an orphan. One of her most difficult was the choice between an actual childrens� book or a book that an adult may read, also. She decided on the latter.
Rowling was friendly with her co-workers, buy was shy when it came to the guys, but one day, she fell in love with a journalist for a television station. Within months, Joanne and this man were married. The first two years were hectic, but good. His schedule kept him out, and they rarely found time to be together. In 1992, Joanne found she was pregnant.
NOT THE END.
Two years after Joanne, her sister, Di, was born. Joanne loved her sister. She often told her stories, mostly involving rabbits�the animal they both really wanted. When Joanne was 6, she wrote her first story about a rabbit named Rabbit who got the measles and was visited by all of his friends, including a rather large bee named Miss Bee. Joanne�s imagination became well known around the neighborhood. Not long after starting to write, the family moved to Yate. Not even a year later, realizing there was better scenery on the other side of town, they moved yet again to Winterbourne. Joanne and Di settle well. They made new friends wherever they went. Joanne was not exactly the most athletic youth, but she persisted in trying and gained the respect of neighborhood kids. Her two best friends were Ian and Vikki Potter. �There surname was Potter. I always liked the name,� says Joanne.
Later, she began to come back out of the shell. She spoke up in class, and became more involved in nonschool activities. Although she wasn�t athletic, she got in fights with girls more often, maybe because her glasses were on and contact lenses in their place. Teachers saw something in her that they tried to encourage, but Joanne never let out her secret.
She became popular and outgoing. And got good grades, which paid off when she got Head Girl in her final year. Head Girl was highly coveted by the girls. The thing Joanne dreaded most was the speech the Head Girl had to give the school. �I decided to play them a record to cut down on the time I had to speak to them. Well, the record was scratched, and right in the middle of playing, it began skipping and played the same line over and over again. Finally the deputy headmistress came out onstage and kicked it.� Joanne graduated middle school with high honors.
Joanne continued writing, but was still too afraid to submit them. She wanted to become confident in herself, but just couldn�t.
Joanne eventually got a job at Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Although she didn�t really like the work, an old college boyfriend was there and she went to spend time with him. At lunchtime, she went to caf�s and restaurants to write parts of her stories. Joanne�s trip from home to the office were often spent reading, writing, or staring out the window. One day, when she was tired of reading and writing, the train came to a stop. The delay would be of about four hours. �I was sitting on the train, just staring out the window at some cows. It was not the most inspiring subject. When all of a sudden, the idea for Harry just appeared in my mind�s eye. I can�t tell you why or what triggered it. But I saw the idea of Harry and the wizard school very plainly. I suddenly had this basic idea of a boy who didn�t know who he was.� Joanne explained. She immediately reached for paper and a pen and began to write. By the time she arrived at the Knight�s Cross station, she had the idea of the first book in her head. Every spare moment was spent toying with the idea of Harry. His stories filled several boxes. Her attitude changed after the idea of Harry; her family noticed. But then, she was brought down again when her mother died at forty-five of multiple sclerosis. She says that her deepest regret is never letting her mother read Harry Potter. Joanne was too distracted to pay much attention to anything and soon lost her job at Manchester. Harry was all that could get her through these tough times.
